Origins: The Proto-Muslim Brotherhood

The
origins of Modern Salafism and Islamic reform in Egypt in the 19th
century . Precursors to the modern Muslim Brotherhood. (Proto-Muslim Brotherhood)

Around the mid 19th
century there emereged a debate in Egypt about how and if Islam can be
“modernized”. As they saw it, the principle of taqlid
(tradition) had been reduced to a blind imitation of past customs. The praxis
of Islam had to be reformed for the modern worlds.

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

Jamal
al-Din al-Afghani (1839-1897) is often accredited to the origin of the
“Salafi” movement in Egypt during the turn of the century. He argued that the
changing position of Muslims in Egypt during his time was due to a stagnant and
distorted view of Islam by Egyptian practitioners, and that the forces of
imperialism and foreign aggression could be defeated only through the
reformation of Islamic practice. Afghani and his disciples would push for a
return to the source, the first community of Mohammad and his followers (the salaf)
and also a renewal of the practice of Ijtihad (independent reasoning) in
order to update and strengthen shari’a (Islamic religious law) to adapt it to
the changing conditions.

The return to ijtihad was significant. In the Sunni stream of Islam, the practice
of independent reasoning based directly on Quranic sources had coalesced into
four major schools of shari’a law,
each with their own qualifications for entry and opinions on legal issues. These
schools of law (the Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafi’i) held official status
in Islamic courts and appointments were typically made by the respective
governments in cooperation with the schooling apparati. Afghani’s theory of the
independent mujtahid (one who
practices ijtihad) promoted a popular
basis for legal reasoning that could oppose “official Islam”.

Muhammad
‘Abduh (1849-1905) was a
disciple and close associate of Afghani’s that was highly influenced by the
enlightenment discourse in Europe.[1]
He witnessed, disparagingly, that the Muslim community around him was ill
equipped to be able to compete with Europeans in matters of practicality. He
focused intently on the need for educational reform that could potential allow
Islamic and Europeans to once again be able to exist on an even keel
intellectually. For ‘Abduh, religion laid the foundation for all moral
guidelines and “If the spirit of religion is not strengthened among the
Egyptians, and if [instead] religion is weakened, these moral qualities will
also collapse. Religion is the basis on which moral conduct is built.” In a radical departure from accepted doctrine, he taught that
modern scientific thought could be accepted without damage to Islam. There were
many ways to reconcile modernity, rationalism and Islam. He emphasized science
and principles from the European Enlightenment as means by which to revitalize
the conditions of Muslims living in Egypt at this time.

Beginning with ‘Abduh and later
with Rida we see a push to prove the Islamic origins of the western
intellectual enlightenment. For example democracy is discussed in terms of the
Islamic practice of “shura” or “consultation”. The focus of much of the work
done during this period was on “remaking” Islam so that scripture remained a
comprehensive framework for daily life.

(Muhammad Rashid Rida)

The Syro-Egyptian Islamic thinker Muhammad
Rashid Rida (1865-1935) studied under ‘Abduh in Cairo at the turn or the
century, where he began calling for a reexamination of
his predecessors’ ideas. Unlike ‘Abduh, Rida did not share his predecessors
affinity for Western culture and was uninterested in western intellectualism. The problem approached by ‘Abduh in the early 20th century still had
not been solved by the time Rida came to Egypt, and in his eyes these reforms
were not effective because they were aimed at “westernizing Egypt and Islam”
and not based on returning Islam to its roots, which he viewed as being the
only successful; solution. Like ‘Abduh, Rida viewed the world as a dichotomy
between the “West” and the “Muslim world”. He considered the Muslim world to be
in a weak position compared to the West. Western style of life was not to be
strived for, according to Rida, but instead embracing the west in an effort to
repudiate and invalidate its claim on modernity. Rida is quite possibly the
most important segue leading us from the “proto-Muslim Brotherhood” up to Hasan
al-Banna and the founding of the organization

Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the modern Muslim Brotherhood
movement, was highly influenced by Rashid Rida’s thought, and developed his
ideas into a social organization dedicated to the implementation of those
principles.

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